


Chime

by frozenCinders



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, lots of thoughts and denial about wanting a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 07:57:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10986741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenCinders/pseuds/frozenCinders
Summary: Kabuto felt kind of at ease. Felt kind of like he'd never have a nightmare again if he kept a dog at the foot of his bed. But he didn't need one.





	Chime

**Author's Note:**

> while the prompt was chime, it ended up being more like "give kabuto a dog"

It wasn't often that Kabuto got stuck with a truly boring job. Usually, his boredom was a risk factor. If he were to stop paying attention while lurking around to gather information, little to no information would actually be gathered. If he were to doze off, he could easily be found by the enemy and get brought in for interrogation. It  _meant_  something, so he was able to stave it off.

This, however, was a meaningless, riskless, _boring_ situation. Just jingling some bells every couple of minutes to attempt to call that escaped wolf man back. He hadn't run away on purpose- he was actually rather obedient and easy to control normally- but he'd gotten distracted and sprinted right off. He frankly wasn't smart enough to find his way back to the base on his own, so Kabuto was stuck looking for him. Or rather, ringing for him.

He'd been trained not to respond to voices because he would respond too positively to everyone, no matter what. Kabuto decided to teach him a series of sounds to mean different things that enemies wouldn't be able to manipulate him with as easily. In hindsight, maybe he should have just trained him to only respond to Kabuto's voice.

The bells sounded odd now that he'd heard them chime so many dozens of times. They didn't sound so pretty and mystical anymore as an instrument should, rather they just sounded like a couple of ball bearings hitting metal, the bare ingredients to the sound. It made him stop to realize how small he really is for a moment, but he refused to get existential and end up shutting down over his troubles for the day like he usually would. At least not until bed time.

He rang the bells again and stopped walking as something loudly rushed towards him. It was that big dumb wolf, nearly tackling him to the ground in his excitement had Kabuto not stepped out of the way. He gave the bells another jingle before attaching them to his hip and beginning to walk back to the base, troublesome man beast in tow.

Maybe getting a pet wouldn't be so bad, in fact. Something that could look up at him all excitedly when he needed cheering up... or not. He was Orochimaru's right hand man for fuck's sake, he didn't "need cheering up." He wouldn't surrender to such mundane concepts just because of some stupid chemicals going off in his brain. And how would he even explain a dog- or anything else- to Orochimaru?

 _"In need of a friend? I suppose I'm not good enough for you anymore?"_  he might tease with a chuckle.

A spy with no real identity didn't need friends, just a purpose. His growing desire to get a pet as well as his downright inability to ignore begging, abandoned children on the streets both needed to be kept in check until... until what? Would being lonely help him figure out who he was?

He glanced behind him to make sure the wolf man was still following when he didn't hear extra footsteps. He'd stopped to... get an itch with his foot, of course, despite having functioning hands that dug into the ground as he tried his best to reach some spot on his head with his foot.

Kabuto pulled out a couple of knives and scraped them together just once, to mean "stop moving." He immediately complied, becoming still aside from a twitching, elongated ear. Kabuto looked him in the eye for a moment before sighing and scratching behind his ear. The man beast closed his eyes and didn't bother hiding a big, goofy smile as he leaned into the touch. Such a simple personality took hardly any energy to interact with... but he didn't need a pet.

They continued moving the rest of the way to the base, with Kabuto fighting off existential dread the entire time. The thing that angered him the most was that whenever the wolf man- who insisted on walking on all fours behind him- would bump into his hip and smile up at him, Kabuto felt kind of at ease. Felt kind of like he'd never have a nightmare again if he kept a dog at the foot of his bed. But he didn't _need_ one.

When he returned the man beast to his cell, Kabuto had fully intended to go drop those bells off at his room and perform a routine equipment check while he was there... but he instead put the bells in his pocket and walked straight to the exit again.

He was definitely getting a dog, whether he liked it or not.


End file.
